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Over at This is Class Warfare, one of my frequent reads, Bruce makes a case for government and taxes that I think allows me to point out why I think they're not necessary."Here I am sitting around watching the local news, something I rarely do, and thinking that I don't want to write anything just right now, when I hear about this story.
A women gets killed when a chunk of concrete falls onto her car.
The local newshead informs us that $200 million is budgeted for next year's transportation when there is a need for $5 billion for overall bridge repair. We keep falling further behind.
Its like when someone calls into a financial advice show to ask whether they should blow a chunk of their inheritance on a Big Screen TV when they owe twenty grand in credit card debt. No stupid, pay off your debts. PAY YOUR BILLS before you play. You spent that money already.
There is a problem when we are $5 billion behind on our bridge maintenance. Somebody is not doing their job. Our civil servants are too busy trying to give back tax money to notice that our freaking transportation system is falling apart.
Maybe some of you right wingers can let me know whether being a conservative means they'll get the freaking bridges fixed so they don't freaking kill people?
I suspect not...
Shrink gubmint. Lower taxes.
Government does things for us. Do we need that tattooed backwards on our foreheads? Sure its not the end all be all of fixing all our problems. But we're talking basic stuff here. Bridges. Its not some grand social engineering plan. Its cars and trucks moving from point A to Point B.
Can we at least do that right? Please?
As much as it might pain some to hear this but it takes money to do useful things like build new roads, put in new infrastructure...
... and to keep bridges from crushing people!
I'll give my share so I don't have to live in mortal terror of falling concrete. |
What followed was a short exchange between the two of us on his comments board:
Hey look, I usually agree with you, but PLEASE don't fall for the idea that because government "does things for us," we can't do them ourselves.
What's the point of a society in which people only help each other out and support that society when they are forced to do so?"There are just some things that have to be done collectively, either through private means or public means. Look at all the great societies and they have vigorous public works systems in place. We live with the myth that WE, the individuals do everything in this society. We all reap the benefits of things that we never see or have any personal capital invested in. Its part of our human disease, we only see ourselves and our own actions.
-bruce |
Yeah, but I'm past that. What I'm saying is that I see no reason for us to think that we need someone to FORCE us to work collectively.
If we do need someone to force us, do we really deserve the benefits of working collectively?
At this point, another commenter chimed in to ask "Who is forcing us?"
The people in power who say "pay for these bombs with a percentage of your paycheck, or we'll put you in prison," or "pay for this social security system for us to squander the money rather than invest it yourself, or else we'll imprison you."
We should be willing to spend money on our society willingly - we should not be forced to pay for whatever they think we should pay for. If we don't want to pay for certain things, then we don't deserve them. I often hear from people that "if there were no taxes, we would have no roads, no public schools, etc." But there's that animal again - it's not that we shouldn't pay for those things, it's that we should willingly pay for them rather than be forced.
Can you imagine walking into a carwash and telling the manager that you want a car wash, but you don't want to pay for it? Everyone else is getting their cars washed there, so why shouldn't you? You just don't want to pay. Well, obviously you have to pay to get your own car washed, but you certainly shouldn't be forced to pay for someone else to get his car washed, should you? Of course not.
You could do that out of the kindness of your heart, but imagine being imprisoned for refusing to pay for another man's car to be washed! That is, of course, insane. Well then, why should I be forced to pay for bombs and armies and a broken "social security" system if I don't want to take part in it? The answer is simple - I shouldn't.
So, Bruce, I acknowledge that these public services are necessary. Roads should be kept safe and clean, and the public should pay for that. Perhaps you could just not be allowed to drive on roads if you don't pay for them, and not be allowed to attend public schools if you don't pay for them, and the like. However, I wouldn't really care who used the roads, so long as they were there. That would be too much like a republican/fiscal conservative idea that would allow only those who could afford it to use the roads.
I certainly don't want to be funding wars of aggression and secret coups backed by the CIA, but every time I pay my taxes, that's exactly what I'm doing.
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